One too many...
On July 18th the alarm went off just before 4 AM so that I could catch a flight a Dallas, too early even for me to get a ride in. The flight arrived a bit late, so I scrambled to get to the office in time for meetings that lasted through the early evening. I had to do a little socializing after work at dinner, but I departed just in time to stop into a local bike shop to pick up a rental. But the bike just sat in my hotel room that night as the long day plus the 100 degree heat sapped any motivation to hit the roads.
July 18th ended as my 14th day without cycling in 2011, and after a quick review of my WKO+ data revealed this afternoon, it was the start of 94 straight days of riding. I wasn't deliberately setting out to establish a streak, however, as of late, I've come to think of myself like Homer J Simpson in one of the early Tree House of Horrors episodes, where Homer was summoned to hell.
The devil intended to punish him with the thing that he loved, the donut. However, the devil met his match in Homer as his donut appetite proved to be insatiable.
Early on in my streak my "donut" appetite also was insatiable, but it was somewhat balanced, where on some days I only ate a munchkin or two. However, of late my hubris had led me to indulge in more and more jelly filled donuts, practically downing them by the dozen. Nearly 1,000 miles just in the last four weeks!
Because I was having some much fun in my gluttony, I ignored or dismissed the signs that I had taken things too far. Unlike Homer, my waistline hadn't expanded, however, I had started to become a tad moody (at least when not on the bike) and my nights had become dominated by tossing and turning rather than sleeping. But with all of my Awesome Autumn Adventures (AAA) starred on my calendar, there was just no way I could park the bike, even for just a day.
Donut Derby
I couldn't ignore the signs any longer on Saturday morning at CCNS's Donut Derby. Despite the cool crisp ideal fall day, my thoughts during the first four of seven 3 mile laps around Devil's Hopyard repeatedly came back to Homer J. Simpson. I'm sure it was a thought mostly conjured due to the event's quirky rule by which your finishing time is docked 2 minutes for every one donut downed.
Don't get me wrong -- I'm not making excuses for not hanging with the lead riders today. The format of the even allowed racers of any ability to compete, and there were some pretty darn good Cat 1s and 2s up there that would smoke me even on my best day. But as I struggled to find the motivation to keep on spinning the cranks, I realized that I had hit a limit in my ability to eat up the miles and smiles on the roads. As I made my way through the scenic roads, I marveled at Homer's truly endless desire for donuts, as I surely wasn't his match. If it weren't for the fact that teammate Dave J was on hand as my designated eater in the team competition, I would have pulled out in lap 4.
I didn't pull out of the race; however, during that lap I pulled out of my AAA plan. Despite all of the memories and fun I'm accumulating, I've reached a point where the fun is coming at high expense -- life outside of the bike is paying the price, and now I'm feeling it even in the saddle. Even though I really was looking forward to what would have been my AAA capstone, Cycling Concept's Dirty Dozen road race, I officially committed myself to two full weeks off the bike starting tomorrow, Sunday the 23rd as I started that 5th lap.
I also decided at nearly the same time that there was still time to salvage the race and officially chaulk it up in the "fun" column. Taking my inspiration from Homer J, I pulled into the donut stop for the first time to give a bit of a pep talk to Dave J ("Hey -- too much talking Dave, not enough eating!") and downed my first donut ( the event allowed both the designated eater and the racer to both down the donuts). I'm not sure if it was the sweet sugar burst from the donut, the brief time off the bike, or the realization that I was less than an hour from the start of 15 days off the bike, but from then on things seemed a lot easier.
There was no way I could catch the leaders at that point, but I zoomed up the fairly steep 1 km dirt climb with vigour and enthusiasm, without the lethargy that plagued me the first four laps. I found it far easier to pick off riders as I passed by the start/finish line for the 5th time, so what the heck -- I stopped in for another chocolate glazed donut on lap #6 ( CCNS had quite the selection to choose from! ). My pace cranked up yet another notch quickly after the power of donut #2 hit the blood stream, and by my calculations lap 6 was by far my fastest.
In fact, I felt so good and so fast on that lap that I began to reconsider my decision to pack it in for the next two weeks. The big smile was back again, and at least for the time being the grumpiness and exhaustion seemed to be in the rear view mirror. I was riding a sugar high that could have easily convinced me that there was no harm in just a few more weeks of AAA.
But rather than letting the delectable donuts lead me down the wrong path, I decided on the final lap to use the donuts to anchor me back to reality. Partly as an effort to capture the team win (which we failed to do as the winner's designated eater was without a doubt a Cat 1 Donut man), but mostly as an effort to weigh myself down just enough to remind me how I've slowed over the last few weeks, I downed a chocolate glazed, a coconut crusted, and a pumpkin donut, bringing my total to 5 donuts (perhaps equalling my total donut consumption for the last five years).
Climbing that hill for the final time with those donuts in my belly added enough drag to certainly take Dave J and I out of the overall team competition. But...it gave me enough time to think of what might lay ahead for me in 2012, and what a kick-ass 2011 I've had.
Here's to the end of 2011's riding season!
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